Calling up an undrafted rookie wideout from the practice squad to start a NFL game at quarterback, with essentially no preparation, might have made a good premise for a Disney movie.
But Sunday afternoon, the actual, ugly reality of the situation took hold. The Broncos, starting Kendall Hinton with their four roster quarterbacks unavailable due to COVID-19-related issues, were pummeled by the Saints, 31-3, at Empower Field. Denver fell to 4-7 and finished with 13 passing yards.
The Broncos defense kept the game tight for a half while the Broncos’ offense was non-existent from the get-go. Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman both saw snaps in the “Wildcat” formation on the Broncos’ first possession, and Hinton came in on 3rd-and-3 and threw incomplete under pressure for his first NFL pass. Hinton completed one pass – for the day – and threw two interceptions.
Although Lindsay provided the Broncos with an occasional spark from the wildcat, New Orleans’ defense was not fooled. Denver opened the game with four consecutive punts for the first time this season while the Saints capitalized on an offside penalty on fourth down en route to a touchdown on their third drive.
Denver then added a fifth consecutive punt before a fumble and an interception led to 10 easy points for New Orleans in the last 2:22 of the half, making it 17-0 at the break.
The fumble came on a poor snap to Lindsay, who should have fell on the ball, and when hit, the ball was popped loose and recovered by linebacker Kwon Alexander. Left tackle Garett Bolles saved a scoop-and-score with a shoestring tackle of Alexander, but the Saints would cash in anyways with a second Taysom Hill touchdown run to make it 14-0. The field goal that followed was because Janoris Jenkins intercepted Hinton’s deep pass intended for DaeSean Hamilton.
The Broncos finished the first half with zero yards passing, and just 37 net yards, as Hinton was 0-7 through the air.
A couple of lone Denver highlights occurred in the third quarter, when undrafted rookie cornerback Essang Bassey recorded his first career interception and returned it into Saints’ territory. The Broncos converted that into Brandon McManus 58-yard field goal at the 7:01 mark to make it 17-3. It was a career long for McManus and also set a team record with seven made field goals from 50-plus in a season.
New Orleans pulled away further with Latavius Murray’s 24-yard touchdown run through a gashed and tired Denver defense to make it 24-3 late in the third quarter. Murray added another scoring run, this time from seven yards out, to make it 31-3.
Denver also saw insult to injury added in the second half as both Lindsay (knee) as well as cornerback Bryce Callahan (foot) were both ruled out due to injury.
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